Questions posed by a cappie

[Issaiah1332]

"from each according to his abilities

to each according to his needs


ok, what are abilities & needs?

who would decide?

based on labor credits?... clunky"

Can anyone answer this?

What exactly are needs and how can they be decided?

[Janus]

ok, what are abilities & needs?
The general meaning of that quote is that individuals will produce/work to the best of their abilities and will extract what they need out of it based on their need.


What exactly are needs and how can they be decided?
Needs are simply things that people require like food, shelter, and other materials/desires.

They will be decided by the individual and the community.

[Q]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24, 2007 11:08 pm
"from each according to his abilities

to each according to his needs


ok, what are abilities & needs?

who would decide?

based on labor credits?... clunky"

Can anyone answer this?

What exactly are needs and how can they be decided?
The needs of society as a whole and individually can only be assessed by the society itself. Democratic planning is vital for achieving a state of communism (of superabundance). That being said, work in a communist society has a different character then that within a capitalist character for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that money ceases to have any practical value, so you don't work to get money anymore. Second is that since most of society is automated and the working week has been drastically shortened to only a few hours, people stop "going to work" and just do as they please to enlighten and broaden their views and experiences. The result is that voluntary work and hobbies get a more important character and mix in importance with what we consider as "normal work". This is the message of "each according to his abilities".